Finding Truth
by Nightingale Bird
Summary: Lessons learned and punishment bared, Loki returns to Asgard a broken spirit. Piecing the God of Mischief back together is difficult, but determining what is real from what is another ploy could prove even tougher for the God of Thunder. Thorki


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**Title: **Finding Truth

**Summary:** Lessons learned and punishment bared, Loki returns to Asgard a broken spirit. Piecing the God of Mischief back together is difficult, but determining what is real from what is another ploy could prove even tougher for the God of Thunder.

**Rated M**

**Pairing:** Thor/Loki

**Authors:** Night & Mouth

* * *

The light engulfed them entirely, blinding and stealing his senses until it was too late.

That was one thing, the one thing that Thor remembered as he had taken his rogue, if not somewhat insane, brother captive, intent on returning the two safely and happily back to Asgard. He would find out what ailed his brother for fervently. He'd pull away his layers and mend what was broken within, devoid him of whatever poisoned his mind.

But that didn't happen, the light flashing, disrupting their arrival back home, was the only thing to let the God know that something had gone wrong. He had looked to his brother, furious that he was up to something, if the smaller God had planned this the punishment would be far more severe… but all he had heard was that faint whimper of fear. A noise so small and meek to most it would have gone unnoticed by most… but the elder brother heard it, felt his brother's fear before their bond was severed by distance.

Loki had seemed fine, as fine as someone in hand-bindings, mouth-gag and screaming and thrashing about could. He was sure that his newly captured brother, had he been free from his bindings, would have been at his throat and trying to kill him.

The God still loved his brother, despite knowing that.

Many of Asgard put his disappearance up to his own doings, that he had gotten free and that the young Prince was too soft with the Jotunheim half-brother. For weeks Thor combed the sky of Asgard, and then beyond, searching high and low for his brother, hoping, though that hope didn't run too deep, if Loki did not wish to be found, he knew this search was in vain.

Only after receiving a small clue, stretched out from the shadows of the night, did he arrive where he was now. Mjolnir grasped in hand, crackling the energy, rage, and desperation Thor held ever since the two Gods left Misard. Vibrant blue hues paid barely any attention to the rubble and destruction he had caused from his entrance, only searching for one thing, the subject of his note:

_'The thing you seek is withheld within in the darkest places."_

Something as sweet as pain.

Weeks ago such sentiment would have fallen on vain, deaf ears. Those words would have held no merit, no worry to the force they threatened. Only now, will crushed and beyond reason, did those words truly impact the God. He had been strong for the beginning, when a searing blade took to his flesh, and a whip bit into skin. When they poisoned him and forced meal into his stomach, only to force it back out of him. He had been strong, but as the wounds festered his body weakened. His lithe frame gave out, and his mind slowly followed. He found his will of strength beginning to crack.

That had been nearly two months ago, though the young God could not be certain of the time anymore. Mind broken beyond its repair, he had submitted and he had begged. He had begged for them to, not spare his life, but end the torment he was being forced to bare. They had forced themselves on him, endless times until he could no longer remember who or what was using him. They told him that even after the agony faded, he would hold the burden of their mark.

As he returned to consciousness, he realized in this moment that things were different. The ringing in his ear was from a loud bang, and the running and chaos around only forced his head to rise, but even that moment sent thousands of shocks throughout his entire frame, making his body once again sag against the chains that held him.

It was only when he heard it, the loud crack of thunder, did his head snap upward, and for once in these last few years he welcomed the sound as a friend...

Loki knew, as they scattered like Midgarian bugs, that he was of no real value to them. They had broken him, taught him such pain and left him branded in such a way that they no longer needed to force hurt onto his body. He watched them flee, out of his brother's rage filled path. But when the God of Thunder did not reveal himself right away, he only began to think he had been imagining everything.

His magic was stripped, body so weak he could barely struggle against the bindings that held him. He opened his mouth, and realized in agony his lips were still completely sown shut, the stitches keeping his lips forced together. He cursed within his own mind, unable to even give any hint to where he was… he could only wish he would be found. And hope when he was, it was to be sentenced to death.

Thor advanced and headed towards what looked to be the largest room, chuckled with little to no regret as several beings smacked face-to-face with Mjolnir, instantly shattering under her strength.

Loki was indeed near, he could feel his brother, his energy and life leaping out, but it was nowhere near as great as it had ever been. It was muted, as if a small flame had been nearly snuffed by the same wax it melted.

"LOKI."

He was headed in the right direction, he knew it as his voice shouted his brother's name, resounding easily through the walls and bouncing just as simply off of them. Whatever half-wall was left, crumbled before the thunder God, knowing it was smarter to fall than stand between the brothers.

And then he finally saw him. There was blood, skin stretched tight over once softer looking limbs, eyes just as blue as they had ever been, but clouds hid behind the green, darkening the gleam that once sparked in his brother's eyes.

Bruised, and torn and bloodied skin, that was all he saw before he was by his brother's side without a second thought. Fingers curled in unkempt hair, worry and desperation etching itself into the God's voice. His brother was found, and, while not in the best shape, was alive, at least so it appeared. "My brother… I have found you."

The rumbling of his brother's voice broke through what felt like a silence that stretched into eternity. Hearing that strong roar that rumbled throughout this dark place, and it forced the creatures within even further into their crevasses. The younger god's head rose, with all the energy he had left he stared and waited to see the sun that he had craved and been denied all these weeks.

That golden hair came into vision, but Loki was disturbed at how blurred his vision was, how the features of his brothers face were just a haze. All he saw was the light, and unlike the bugs that hid from it, Loki moaned and reached for it, desperate for its touch and its warmth. He felt it before he saw the man, the hand within his jet black locks, hard with sweat and blood, and like a cat the younger prince pushed his head against it, all thoughts of punishments and fears of returning to Asgard were forgotten in the moment.

He broke, a light sob erupted from lips sewn shut, but no tears were able to escape his eyes. He had cried silently too many times, and too long in this dark place to have anymore.

He struggled for the first time in ages, his paper thin skin stretched tight against his bones, and as he moved the chains cut into his flesh, crimson leaking down the pallid skin from injuries newly opened. He sniveled, the noise pathetic by this god's standards and he knew it sounded nothing like what Thor would know, but he contained himself a moment late. He could barely keep his eyes open, but there was still too much pride to forget about his dignity.

Tears were instantaneous in Thor, whether he wanted them or not. His brother was so… broken would be the best word, broken and mangled, and in desperate need of some care. In need of love and nutrition, sunlight, bandaging, new dressings and everything.

Everything he did not have right now.

Broken would be a good word, an adequate word, but it was not the best word for what Loki was. While he looked shredded beyond belief, endured things that no one ought to, have those things taken, and other things angrily forced upon you, he was not completely broken.

His brother was still solid somewhere, hidden in this unsightly cocoon of a man that needed everything he could easily offer, back in Asgard. Everything he could offer and easily more.

Thor longed to say something, words caught themselves up in his throat, choking off his breath as pain and tears dribbled one by one from his eyes. But his tears would last nowhere near as long as the smaller God's own, that is if he could even form them. They had to leave here, Loki needed to be free from these bindings, resting back, laid down. He couldn't bring himself, though it was obvious he was supposed to be the strong one here, look up to see the stitching preventing his brother, his ever-lying brother, to lie any more, at least for these moments.

How long he stayed kneeled by his brother's side, fingers curled in hair that needed to be washed, listening to quiet, mewling sobs that he knew, but didn't want to, came from his brother. Too much time, he was sure, because he knew now he'd never forget such a thing.

Again he tried to speak, call him his brother, reassure him, but as he opened his mouth, only tears spilled forth, so instead he pressed his lips to the side of the bruised face that deserved to glow, not to be sullied by old blood and wounds like it was now.

His brothers tears were hot against his skin, but seeing that blubbering face was all he needed to see. His pathetic, loved, worshiped brother brought to tears. And for what? A brother who had spat in his eye, that had tried to kill at he held dear? Why would such tears be shed for his like? Did this punishment truly impact? He must have looked truly pitiful to evoke such a reaction from the Thunder God.

The kiss held such a charge that Loki shuttered against his bindings, and all he wanted was to feel those strong arms wrap him up, to be comforted and in the warmth of his touch. But that was long behind him, crawling into his brother's bed for comfort from night terrors… he was too aged for such a display of need. But as the minutes ticked on, the bugs became curious, and jade eyes widened as he felt their presene. Every inch of his body tightened, and had he the voice he would have warned Thor, would have begged to be free of these bindings and return home.

But all he could do was make a straggled cry, struggling against his hold until he made himself dizzy. Take me home, brother. Please, just get me out of this dark place.


End file.
